More than 80 people attended the Boorowa Ex-Sevices Club on Friday for the 'Resilient Farming Communities Planning for Climate Uncertainty' forum hosted by the Boorowa Community Landcare Group.
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Attendees were treated to talks from John Harper, Mark Gardner, Warwick Badgery, Jacki Schirmer, Matt Lieschke and Toneya McIntosh.
Organiser Linda Cavanagh said she was pleased with the reception of the forum.
"Landcare as a community organisation has a strong position to work as conduit between all the networks we are able to bring together," she said.
"So I'm really excited we were able to bring all these people together in the one room to have a non-threatening conversation to tackle this ongoing dry time.
"Hopefully people can leave with some information on how to implement changes and feel supported in their community," she said.
The forum addressed strategies to tackle tough times, to improve ecological, economic and social wellbeing of rural communities.
Speaker Mark Gardner highlighted the need for producers to understand why they were using the agricultural practices they were and what they hoped to get from them.
"Connecting and understanding deeply your "why" is really important to giving you meaning and a sense of purpose, which is a buffer through the times that we are going through," he said.
"If you understand why you are doing what you are doing it's very protective of a lot of the mental health points John Harper was talking about.
"In times of change their are no experts, we all start with the same knowledge, skills and experience. So if we share those we are all better off," he said.
Fellow speaker Toneya McIntosh said forums like the one held in Boorowa were important for both producers and researchers.
"These (forums) are really important platforms to share the experience we've had and the learnings we've taken away from our projects," she said.
"We get to know a lot of growers and making sure there's impact and spreading our messages is hugely important.
"Making sure people feel acknowledged and heard for the individuals they are but given support is something this event has been able to provide and I'm really grateful to be part of it," she said.
